HALF A WORLD AWAY
by Mei Li Young
Summary: This is a story of two people on the adventure of a lifetime half a world away from their homes. Could these two people who find themselves thrown together again and again live through one of the most traumatic events of their lives?
1. FORKS

**A/N: Hi everyone. I've had writer's block for my story A Brave New World for a while now, but it would seem that after working on this story for the last two weekends, my writing has started to flow again. I'll be working on the next chapter of Brave New World this week, so don't think that just because I've started posting this story that I've given up on my other. **

**This story is very different than A Brave New World. It's all human and based loosely on my three years of living in Beijing.**

**As always let me know what you think!**

* * *

**BELLA**

Sitting on my father's front steps, I listened to the rushing sound of the wind through the trees. I was going to miss that sound. No matter where I lived, that sound would always make me homesick.

Closing my eyes, I laid back on the steps. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with fresh air. I always noticed when I came back from visiting my mother in Phoenix that the air here smelled so "alive."

I had to leave this town, but why did I choose China? I could have gone to somewhere else in the States, but I chose China.

I heard the front door open and the tentative steps of my father stopping just above my head.

"Bells, you okay?" my father asked.

"I'm fine Dad. I'm just trying to soak in my surroundings. Make sure I don't forget anything."

With a sigh, he went back inside, shutting the door quietly.

I lay there for a long time, trying to calm my nerves. I'd never been on a plane, let alone flown to a country half a world away. But I had to go. I had to forget.

_Seven years_

_Jake and I had been together for seven years, ever since my sixteenth birthday. He had been my first everything- first kiss, first boyfriend, first lover, first break-up._

_Living in a small town, everything reminded me of us. Everywhere had a specific memory- the corner store where Jake had first kissed me, the beach at La Push where he'd asked me to be his girlfriend, my room where we'd first had sex on a night when my father was working. We even shared the same friends._

_But when we'd both gone away to university, I think deep down we both knew that we weren't going to last._

_We made it work through our undergrads. A couple weekends a month, I would travel to his university and we would come home every holiday. We were happy. We loved each other and when people would ask us about how we had stayed in a relationship for so long we would often joke that we had raised each other. He was the man that I had molded him into and vice versa. _

_Jasper, my best friend, thought that it was a creepy way to think about our relationship. It was too domestic for people who were only twenty-three._

_I used to get mad at him for saying that, but as I got older I started to wonder. _

_Seven years…._

_When we finished our undergrads, Jake got a job working as a mechanic but I didn't have a plan. I'd just finished my Liberal Arts degree and couldn't for the life of me figure out what I wanted to do with my life. The one thing that I knew was that I didn't want to stay in Forks. Jake said that if I wanted to leave that he would go with me. But I was pretty sure that he never truly believed that I would go anywhere._

_The summer after graduation, I worked at the corner store and sunk deeper and deeper into depression. I didn't want this to be my life. I wanted more. _

_It was my mom, who helped me to find a sense of direction._

"_Bella, what do you really want?" she asked._

"_I don't know, Mom…" _

"_You can't do much with a Liberal Arts degree with a major in English and History, Bella. I think you need to go back to school and I think that you need to choose a school somewhere 'away.' You need a chance to spread your wings without feeling obligated to ties that you have at home."_

_I knew what she meant. During my undergrad, she'd constantly told me that I wasn't truly immersing myself in the college experience when I'd always had one foot at school and the other with Jake. _

_When she said it this time, I didn't argue, which I think surprised her. I'd been thinking the same thing for a while. I didn't want to breakup with Jake, I loved him, but I felt like I couldn't breathe in Forks._

"_But what will I study, Mom? I have no idea what I want to do."_

"_Bella, I might be totally wrong, but I think that you would make a great teacher," she said._

_The thought surprised me for a moment, but as it sunk in I realized that it just felt 'right.'_

_Ever since I started working during the summer at the age of sixteen, I would gravitate towards jobs that had me working with kids, like a babysitter, camp counselor, tutor. Even in school, my teachers frequently had me tutor other kids because my grades were really good. _

_So becoming a teacher seemed to be a natural progression of all of that._

_I didn't tell Jake right away what I was thinking. I didn't want his feelings to color my decision. So, after going out with him at night, I would go home and do research online to find a school, which was 'away.'_

_Finally, I found a school that had everything I wanted. It was a small liberal arts school with a very well-respected education department. Its middle-school and high-school stream were very competitive, but I was confident that my grades would help me get in. _

_I applied and was both happy and terrified when I got in. I'd never even told Jake that I had applied and now it was August and I was to start school in September._

_He was beyond hurt and angry when he found out._

"_Why wouldn't you tell me, Bella? We talk about everything!" he shouted._

_I knew that I'd hurt him. I'd felt guilty the whole time that I had waited to find out whether I was accepted. But I'd been so scared that if he said anything against it that I would give it up because I loved him so much. _

"_I have to go, Jake. I still love you, but I need to figure out my career. I want to have a career not just a job."_

"_Oh, you mean, you don't want to settle for a job just like I have…" he muttered._

"_That's not what I meant, Jake. I want to get my teaching degree. Then, when I come back, I'll have a purpose. I'll teach at Forks Middle school or High school," I explained. Although when I said it, something didn't feel right about it. _

"_Okay. Fine. But why did you choose a school so far away?" he asked, pain in his eyes._

_That was the crux of the matter. I couldn't tell him that I wanted us to be apart for a while, so that I could figure out what I really wanted. _

"_It's the only school that offers the courses that I want…" I lied._

"_So, what does this mean? Are we breaking up?" he asked, all the anger gone and only sadness remaining._

"_No! Jake, it's just a year and a half. We made it that long before. I promise that I'll be home on holidays," I exclaimed._

_I didn't want to break up with him. I just wanted a little space, so that I could make some decisions for myself instead of always thinking about how Jake would fit into the equation._

_He stared at me for a moment before pulling me to him. _

_Kissing me gently on the lips, he said softly, "Okay, Bells. Have I ever been able to deny you anything? A year and a half isn't that long."_

_I left two weeks later. _

* * *

_It was hard at first because I missed Jake and I missed my friends and family._

_But one amazing thing happened. Jasper, unbeknownst to me, had decided to upgrade his degree in anthropology with some specialized courses offered at my university. So, we decided to rent an apartment together. _

_Those were a few of the best months of my life. Jasper and I worked hard and played hard, but still went home at Thanksgiving and Christmas during which time Jake and I were happier than we'd been in years. _

_It was just before summer that I started to notice a change in Jake. Because my degree was condensed, I didn't have my summer off. He complained about it all the time even though he'd known at the very beginning that this was how it was going to play out. He was sullen on the phone and very abrupt with me when I'd call just to say good-night. I couldn't understand it, but Jasper said that he was probably just missing me._

_It was a Thursday night when Jake called out of the blue. _

"_Hey, Bells," he said softly._

"_Jake! How are you? I miss you so much," I responded with a smile._

_I had been missing him. It was a rainy day and that always brought back memories of Jake and I huddled next to the woodstove in his father's old shack in the woods. It had been our favorite make out spot, so we'd made it into a pretty cosy "love shack." _

_After a moment of silence, Jake spoke hesitantly._

"_Bells, I want to break up," he said._

_After a moment of shocked silence, I finally got my voice back._

"_What?" I exclaimed. "When did you decide this?!"_

"_I've been thinking about it for a while…" _

"_You could have fooled me. I was just home a couple of weeks ago and you seemed really happy to see me."_

"_I was! I still love you, Bells! But our relationship isn't going anywhere, babe, you know that."_

_I started to get angry because I felt the exact opposite. I was even looking forward to moving back home and being with him again. Then, a thought dawned on me._

"_Jake, have you met someone else?"_

_There was a pause which spoke louder than words._

"_Who is she?" I hissed._

"_It doesn't matt-"_

"_Who?!" I shouted, causing Jasper to open his bedroom door._

"_It's Leah…" he said guiltily._

_I felt like I was going to be sick. I'd known Leah all my life. All of us hung out together every weekend. _

"_Leah… Ho… How-"I began, feeling the tears coming to my eyes. _

_I felt Jasper's hand on my shoulder and I reached up to take it._

"_How long, Jake?" I asked, not really wanting to know the answer but needing to at the same time._

"_A few months now… but Bells-"_

_The color drained from my face._

"_You mean that you started seeing her before I came home last month? Did you sleep with her?" I demanded._

"_Bells. It doesn't matter…" _

"_The hell it doesn't! Now I'm going to have to get tested for STDs. If she'd sleep with someone else's boyfriend, someone SHE'S KNOWN FOR YEARS! I CAN'T TRUST THAT SHE HASN'T SPREAD SOMETHING TO YOU AND THEN YOU TO ME!"_

_Jake remained silent. _

"_I hate you, Jake… I don't know what I ever saw in you," I spat and hung up the phone._

_Jasper pulled me into a hug as I raged and cried, unable to control the feelings pouring out of me. Eventually, he was able to get me up off the kitchen floor and into my room where I fell into an exhausted sleep._

* * *

_For days, I was angry. I wasn't sad. I was seething. _

_Every time I would start to calm down, my phone would start ringing again. And after the fiftieth time hearing Jake's ringtone on my phone, I threw it at the wall breaking it into pieces._

_It was at this point that Jasper stepped in._

"_Okay, Bella. We're going out tonight," he said firmly._

"_What?! No! I'm not going anywhere!" _

_I'd been short with Jasper in the last few days too, but he'd taken it all in stride._

"_Yes, you are. You need to get out of this house and away from the douche bag before he starts calling our home phone."_

"_Why does he keep calling me?!" I growled. "He's the one that cheated. He's the one that wanted to break up. The least he could do is leave me the fuck alone! I wish I could rip out Leah's-"_

"_We're going out," Jasper interrupted before I could finish that thought. "There's a Halloween in June party at Sweetwaters tonight. We need to get ourselves some kick ass costumes from that store on Queen street."_

"_What the fuck is a summer Halloween party!" I snarled._

_But Jasper ignored me, pulling me out of the house with him. _

_We drank and danced most of the night. With every shot, I felt less and less stupid about my Wonder Woman costume and less angry about the whole thing with Jake. Jasper, dressed in his Batman costume, was a force to be reckoned with. Women swarmed him, but he focused all of his attention on me. At one point, he even pulled me up onto the bar to dance like madmen. _

_But when I got home, there were messages on my phone and in my email from Jake. Letting Jasper handle the ones on the phone, I deleted every single email without opening them._

* * *

_It was near the end of my program that I began to panic. I'd started applying to schools in the area, but none were hiring. I was terrified that I was going to have to go back to Forks and all the drama that I'd successfully squashed in order to concentrate on finishing my program._

_I knew that Jasper was worried, as well as my other classmates, when they saw me sinking back into a depression. It was on an especially depressing day that a group of recruiters came to our class. One was from an alternative school for juvenile delinquents in North Carolina and the other was for a private school in China. I took both of the pamphlets home, but I wasn't really considering either one. Jasper found them on the table and came into the living room with them._

"_Bells, you can't go back to Forks. It will kill you…" he said gently._

_I pressed mute on the TV. _

"_But what else can I do Jazz? I have no other prospects," I nearly cried._

"_You have this," he said, showing me the pamphlet for the school in Beijing._

"_Jazz, you've got to be kidding me. This is the farthest from home that I've ever been," I chuckled, darkly, turning back to the TV._

_Jasper sat down next to me and took the remote from my hands, turning the TV off._

"_Jazz…" I whined._

"_Bella, listen to me. You can't go home. You and I were not meant to stay in Forks. It's not our life. You need to create a new one. You can do anything you want, Bella. You say that this is the farthest you've ever been, but why should that stop you?"_

_He opened the pamphlet and showed it to me._

"_You can go to this school in Beijing and have your plane ticket, accommodations and meals paid for. On top of that you'll make a teacher's salary that's equivalent to one that you'd make here. All you have to do is sign a contract for a year. I think this is the chance of a lifetime, Bella. Just think about it, okay?" he said, putting it on the coffee table in front of me before kissing me on the top of the head and leaving the room._

_I turned on the TV again, ignoring everything that Jasper said._

* * *

_Coming home, I dropped my stuff on the coffee table and threw myself down on the couch exhausted from my final day of a grueling internship. My exhaustion was probably the reason that I didn't check the caller ID when the phone rang._

"_Hello?" I yawned._

"_Bells! Finally! I'm so glad that you answered the phone. I'm so sorry-"_

"_Fuck, Jake! Can't you take a hint? Doesn't the fact that I haven't taken a single one of your phone calls or emails for two weeks tell you that I want nothing to do with you?"_

"_I know I've hurt you Bells. I'm so sorry, but Leah and I-"_

"_I don't want to hear it Jake!" I screeched._

_There was silence for a moment on the other end._

"_I get it. I'll explain everything when you get home. Maybe it will be easier when we're face to face," he said gently._

_Anger exploded out of me, causing me to speak before really thinking it through._

"_I'm not coming home, Jake. I'm going to teach in China."_

* * *

I threw up twice before even stepping foot on the tiny plane.

My father watched me with concern the whole drive to the airport and asked me frequently whether I really wanted to do go. I kept nodding my head, not able to speak. I couldn't back out now. Everything was set and there would be people waiting for me at the airport in Beijing.

"Bells, you don't have to do this. You have nothing to prove," my father said.

"I know, Dad. I want to do this… I need to do this," I mumbled.

Charlie patted me on my shoulder and stopped asking.

I clutched my father's hand right up until it was the final boarding call.

He pulled me to him in a fierce hug and then said, "Run along now, Bells. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad. I'll call when I get there," I said, turning away and forcing myself not to look back.

I climbed the steps onto the plane and felt immediately claustrophobic. There was barely enough room to walk down the aisle. I began to panic. I couldn't go through with it. I couldn't fly half way around the world.

However, just as I was passing the first few seats, a loud voice grumbled.

"Why did I pay the extra money? It's false advertising. How is this first class?"

Startled, I looked towards the voice and saw a large man, squished into a seat, with a scowl on his face. He had curly brown hair and dimples which seemed in stark contrast to his scowl that he was wearing. Next to him, pressed up against the window was one of the most beautiful men I'd ever seen. I was frozen for a moment as I took in his reddish brown hair and the brilliant green of his eyes.

Then, with amusement, I noticed how he seemed to be sinking lower and lower in his seat as the person next to him got louder and louder.

"Emmett, simmer down," he hissed, elbowing the big guy in the side.

Seeing this exchange broke through my sense of panic, allowing me to find my seat and store my carry-on before getting ready for the first flight of my life.

The take-off was the worst. The rumbling and jerking of the plane made me feel like it was about to fall apart. But once I was in the air, I was able to fool myself into thinking that I was in a car. Thankfully, I was sitting next to a woman who wanted to read too, so I wasn't forced to make small talk. I wasn't good at small talk.

The two flights leading up to the one to Beijing weren't too bad. I was able to finish half of my book, so time flew by quickly.

The flight to Beijing was a different story.

It was a huge plane, so there was plenty of space, but I still felt cramped and my legs felt swollen from sitting so long. Even getting up to move around didn't seem to help.

The only distraction was the two men that I'd noticed on my first flight. I'd been shocked, but a little thrilled by the fact that they were on the same flight to Beijing. Somehow they had gathered a group of people, Chinese and American alike, to play cards. The big one, whose name I caught was Emmett, taught the group how to play "asshole." I laughed because I knew that the Chinese, many of whom didn't speak English, had no idea what he was saying. His friend whose name was Edward stayed on the side lines, amused by his friend's antics, but keeping himself apart.

They were both hot, but I couldn't quite seem to take my eyes off of Edward. This guy wasn't just hot. Hot didn't even begin to cover it. He was beautiful. He had the most interesting shade or reddish brown, almost bronze hair which was just long enough to have a mind of its own. Being the owner of a cowlick, I knew his pain. His eyes were a brilliant green that almost seemed to brighten when he found something funny. Paired with his pale skin, he looked positively exotic, like no one I had ever seen.

At one point, I started to feel a little like a voyeur because I'd given up all pretenses of reading and just watched them like I would a movie.

A few times, Edward and I made eye contact. Each time we held each other's gazes for a few moments before looking away. I had no idea what he was thinking during those moments, but all I could think about was how someone should paint a portrait of him.

Finally, the flight was over and we disembarked.

The minute I stepped into the terminal I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. All the signs were in Chinese, so it took me a few minutes to find my flight number and the symbol for luggage. Grabbing a cart, I stood next to the luggage turnstile waiting to see my purple suitcases with the bright yellow pompoms on their handles.

Finally, I found my luggage and made it through customs.

Taking a deep breath, I started to walk towards the exit, terrified by the unknown. But I was startled by a hand on my shoulder and a deep voice over my left shoulder.

"Welcome to Beijing."

I whipped around and was startled to see the object of my obsession from the plane standing behind me.

I was frozen, unable to say a word.

He smiled crookedly at me as he walked around me and said, "Here's to a new life!" walking backwards facing me before bounding away to join Emmett in pushing their luggage out the door.

I was so shocked that I hadn't even had the chance to say anything to him.

And then he was gone.

Taking another deep breath to settle myself, I stepped through the doors and towards my future. Stepping out of the air conditioning, I was hit with a wall of heat accompanied by the smell of a city and its smog. For a moment, I felt sick to my stomach because I couldn't catch my breath in the humid heat. Forcing myself to breathe deeply, I stood up straight and looked for the sign with my name on it.

In the sea of black hair, Alice, who was going to be my flat mate, didn't stand out. She'd sent me a picture, but I couldn't see her which made me start to panic. What if there was no one here to meet me?

But amid the dull roar of people meeting up with their loved ones, I heard my name being called.

Frantically scanning the crowd, I found Alice to the side of the entrance amidst a bunch of white vans. She was just the same as in her picture and as she'd told me she was holding a florescent pink sign with my name on it.

I dragged my suitcases over to the van, but before I even had the chance to put them down, Alice was throwing her arms around my neck.

"Bella, it's so nice to finally meet you! I feel like I know you already," she said, squeezing me in quite a strong hug for someone so small.

She stepped away from me and opened her arms wide.

"Welcome to Beijing! You're going to love it here. I promise," she said with a wide grin, rocking back on her heels.

Even in my stunned state of culture shock, I saw how beautiful she was and I was slightly envious. With short black hair and a heart shaped delicate face, she would have stood out in any crowd.

I smiled tentatively, looking around at the mass of people and cars and bicycles coming and going.

But before the panic could come back, Alice looped her arm with mine and said, "Don't worry. You'll get used to the craziness."

Then, she dragged me to the van and into my new life.


	2. TUAN LI

**TUAN LI**

"The Haxalots are at it again. What the hell are they doing in there," Alice said as she walked through the front door of our apartment, dropping everything on the coffee table.

The Haxalots were the tenants that lived across the hall from us. Alice named them Haxalots as in "hacks… a…. lot…." because of all the coughing and gagging that went on in there. Beyond the gross noises, there always seemed to be the sound of construction going on inside but neither of us had ever seen anyone enter or leave. Then, at other times the TV was so loud that you could hear it clear as a bell in our apartment. We'd knock on the door and someone would come to the peephole. In my broken Chinese I would ask them to turn it down and they would, but the next day it would be playing full blast again.

It became a daily habit to stop on the way home and ask them to turn it down, just like checking the mail.

To the left of the Haxalots were the Suspicions. Every time we were in the hallway coming or going, they would open their door a crack and peak out. They would never speak to us, just watch. Then, very quietly would shut the door as if they had gotten their fix of the foreigners that day.

After initially being freaked out by the Suspicions and the Haxalots we managed to live in harmony. None of us bothered the other and went about our day to day lives forgetting the microcosm of weirdness we lived in.

"How was class?" I asked Alice who had slumped down on our couch and cranked the air conditioner.

"Fucking hot," she growled. "Not even the students could handle it today. The only way I kept them awake was with the water gun," she continued. "Could you grab me a bottle of water?" she whined from her prone position on the couch.

"Sure, princess. Your wish is my command," I said light heartedly, grabbing a bottle and tossing it to her on the couch.

Pressing the bottle of water to her forehead and then the back of her neck she moaned.

It was really hot here in August and none of the classrooms had air conditioners, leading to cranky teachers and students.

Alice had gotten so fed up with students falling asleep in class that she'd gone out and bought a super soaker water gun. I was sure that she'd get fired, but that never happened. The students actually liked it and as long as the students were happy the school was happy.

We quickly learned that our school was a dumping ground for extremely rich kids that had either been kicked out of their previous schools or wanted a fast track to the U.S. Our school was a joint venture school that allowed students who graduated from it to go directly into the university I had graduated from.

"Karaoke?" I asked, knowing that it would cheer her up.

"Awesome," she said with a grin perking up slightly before collapsing again on the couch with a loud groan.

In our small village of Tuan Li, karaoke was about the only form of entertainment.

With farmland on all sides we lived in a sort of gated community that contained both foreigners and locals with our school at the center. Tuan Li was basically miles of ancient farmland with a couple of gated communities that seemed like they had been dropped from orbit.

Even though our school had been around for a while, the locals still looked at us like we were aliens a lot of the time.

I was greeted every morning with, "Ni hao, laowai!" which translated to _Hello foreigner _or_ Hello outsider_. This was actually quite derogatory and at first it was spoken mockingly. But as we'd gotten used to each other, it became more like a nickname spoken fondly.

It was a strange little community. I would often wake up in the morning with either the sound of _My dofu lei_ or an approximation of it as a woman bicycled down the street selling tofu sliced from a slab on a cart. Or I woke up to the sound of sheep and their clanking bells as they ate grass on the other side of the wall that separated the countryside from our community.

Women would dry peanuts and corn on the side of the street and at night the elderly women would fan dance for exercise in the alleyway between our apartment and the restaurants. The sound of the drum that would give the dance its rhythm sounded almost tribal and gave me very strange dreams when I would fall into an exhausted sleep after work.

And don't get me started on fireworks. Crazy people including teachers from our school would set off fireworks in the alleyways, especially in the one next to our residence which was outside of the restaurants. The explosion was so loud that it would shake our windows and set off every car alarm in the area.

This was my life in Tuan Li, our little community.

When I first stepped out of the airport into the heat and smog of Beijing, I thought that I wouldn't be able to handle living here. I'd felt like I couldn't catch my breath and everything was just so loud. However, Alice, who had lived in Tuan Li for two years before me, was able to help me adjust. She was able to show me the Beijing that she loved and through her I came to love it too. I eventually got used to the pollution and I found that our small community away from the chaos of Beijing helped me adjust to living in a foreign country.

Together, Alice and I experienced many wonderful things- fresh dumplings, jianbing (egg crepes), karaoke parties, pirated DVDs, and the amazing sights of the old Beijing melded with the new.

And many strange and disturbing things- rats big enough that they'd hiss at you causing you to back away as they thumped down the steps, wild children that scared even the security guards who looked like children themselves.

However, life in China did have its frustrations, like trying to understand and get my point across to locals about topics that were beyond my scope of the language, such as getting a cell phone plan or even finding out where the nearest bathroom was.

Combining these things with the frenzied environment of Beijing— the shoving to get on the bus and the subway, people crossing the street in chaotic _frogger_ fashion while cars and bicycles whizzed by them at close range- I experienced some culture shock but more a sense of excitement.

"Should I call everyone?" I said with a smile.

"Yes. I'm in the mood for some beer and rou chao bing," she said with a grin, her bad mood gone.

Karaoke was our favorite pass time when we didn't have the time or energy to venture into Beijing. We'd go to the Big Restaurant as we called it and get one of the upstairs rooms, order a lot of food and beer and sing karaoke. I was surprisingly good at _Hotel California_ and Alice could belt out _Dead or Alive_ like there was no tomorrow.

Randy, Bev, Theresa, Jessica, and Lauren joined us. We were all from the same university, but we couldn't be more different and in different circumstances we would probably never hang out together. However, living in an area surrounded by "foreigness" brought people together.

Randy answered the call on the first ring.

"Hello?" he said in an exhausted voice.

"Beer and karaoke?" I said with a smile.

"Beer… Yay!" he said with a sigh.

I was struck again by how much my two friends were alike. It was too bad that he was gay. They would have made a fantastic couple.

Randy called the rest and we gathered at the restaurant.

We ordered a shit load of food and sang loudly as the beer continued to flow.

"Do you guys know that we have a holiday for Chinese National Day in October?" Randy asked after we had sung ourselves out.

We all sat up in excitement.

"I guess we're going to have almost a week off. So, I'm thinking about going to Hong Kong. Anyone else want to go?" he asked, looking at me with anticipation.

"Not me," I said, apologetically. After three months in Beijing, I wasn't interested in going to another city, especially some place that I wouldn't even have survival Chinese because it was predominantly Cantonese.

"Me neither," Alice said, shaking her head.

"Don't you want to go shopping, darling?" Randy asked her.

"Nope, I really want some fresh air. Can we go someplace that has fresh air?" she said turning to me with a smile, knowing already that we'd end up travelling together.

"Okay, we need to do a little research," I said with excitement.


	3. INNER MONGOLIA

**INNER MONGOLIA**

It was October, Chinese national holidays, and a group of us had decided to travel to Inner Mongolia. Many of the teachers at the school had been surprised and a little bewildered by my choice. Most of them were going to Hong Kong or Shanghai, but after three months in Beijing, I wanted to get away from cities all together.

I'd read stories about the open grasslands and deserts of Mongolia and the romance of the nomadic Mongolians herdsmen on vast tracts of grasslands, packing up their tent-homes and moving to greener pastures. And I'd decided that I wanted to see whether it lived up to what I'd read.

Alice and I, and two other teachers Lauren and Jessica decided to go too. Alice, I was excited about, but Jessica and Lauren? Not so much. But we couldn't tell them no.

We booked a sleeper car on the train to take us to Hohot the capital of Inner Mongolia where our tour guide would meet us. From there we would travel by van for three or four hours to a small camp that was not part of the normal tourist package.

The overnight train ride was painful because none of us could sleep with the train jerking with every stop.

Alice tried to keep herself entertained by forcing us to play cards for hours on end.

"Again," Alice said, shuffling the deck.

"Alice, no more. We can't play another game of Crazy 8 Countdown…" I whined.

"What else do you want to do then? None of us brought our laptops, so watching a movie is out and reading is making me sick," she whined, tapping her foot in irritation.

"It's going to be a long day tomorrow. Just lie down and shut your eyes. You can pretend that the rocking of the train is the ocean," I tried to convince her.

However, all she did was roll her eyes, which made me sigh.

"Fine. Shuffle the deck," I muttered.

With groans, Jessica and Lauren went to their bunks and pulled their sleeping bags over their heads.

Alice and I continued to play until we were so tired we could barely keep our heads up and then we collapsed into a restless sleep that ended too soon. I barely felt like I'd closed my eyes when I heard the name Hohot over the loudspeaker.

Blinking at the brightness of the sky overhead as we stepped off the train, I had to catch my breath because the air was so cool and fresh, just like sucking on breath mints.

I saw our tour guide the minute we entered the train station because she was holding up a pink neon side with Swan printed on it.

"Are you members of the Swan party?" she asked us with a broad smile.

When we nodded, she smiled brightly at us and said "Welcome to Hohot."

We began our journey through an extensive landscape of grass-covered hills and endless dirt roads.

We traveled for well over four hours on heavily rutted roads, being thrown from side to side as we drove over every bump. From time to time, herds of horses, goats and cattle would cross the road and our driver had to hit the brakes. Luckily, I hadn't eaten before getting in the van, but Alice, Lauren, and Jessica weren't so lucky.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Alice said from next to me.

I looked over at her in alarm and saw the greenish tint to her skin.

I had a horrible image of Alice throwing up in the van and then having to drive god knows how long before we reached our destination. It was enough to make me feel sick too.

"Hold it in Alice. We shouldn't be that much longer," I said soothingly, rubbing her back.

I really had no idea how much more time we'd be on the road, so beyond that I kept my mouth shut.

"Why the fuck did we come here anyway?" Lauren muttered.

I wanted to throw open the door and kick her out when I saw our guide stiffen in the front seat.

I hadn't wanted Lauren and Jessica to come but they'd invited themselves and I hadn't known how to turn them down without being rude. So, I just gritted my teeth and did my best to ignore them.

Finally, in the distance we saw a few vans parked in the middle of an open pasture. Past the vans, there was a series of what looked like round tents that were called yurts. Made of compressed sheep wool with latticed wood frames, they looked like squat Native American teepees. But as we got closer, I was relieved to see that they were a little more fortified than I'd thought with cement foundations and smoke stacks sticking out of their tops. I was so cold that I was worried that I'd taken roughing it a little too far. If it was this cold during the day, I knew that it would be so much worse at night.

Once we'd pulled to a stop, a few of the camp's villagers came out to greet us and show us where to put our belongings. Alice and I were led to one of the yurts near the centre. Inside, there were thick rugs on the floors and the walls for insulation and it was furnished with low beds and more blankets, quilts, pillows than any one person could possibly need. We could have chosen a camp that was even more modernized with electricity and washrooms, but I wanted an authentic experience. This camp wasn't a tourist trap; it was where these people lived without electricity and an outhouse for a bathroom.

I'd known all about this before leaving Beijing, but once I stepped out of the van and looked around at the endless fields I realized how far from civilization I'd really come.

It was the most rugged place that I'd ever been and I was absolutely thrilled.

I looked at Alice and I could tell that she was thinking the same thing.

"I'm so happy!" she exclaimed, her motion sickness forgotten.

The villagers welcomed us with open arms. A few of the elderly women came forward and took our hands in their chapped and callused ones in order to pull us into the dining yurt. With their wrinkled skin and wind-burned cheeks, you could tell that they'd lived a hard life one that I couldn't even conceive of.

They pulled us into the dining yurt and handed me a hot bowl of goat milk tea and bortzig (fried unleavened bread). I took an immediate slurp of the milk to show the proper respect. I read that milk is very important in Mongolia, milk from goats, yaks, camels and horses. After an initial shock at the wild taste of it, I found that I really enjoyed it.

Alice and I had no problems with the meal, our stomachs already hardened from the places we'd eaten in Tuan Li, but Lauren and Jessica weren't looking that good.

As if hearing my thoughts, Alice leaned into me, "We shouldn't have brought them with us. They're going to be real buzz kills."

I grunted in response, knowing that she was probably right.

Once we were settled and our bellies were full, a few of the men from the village brought out their horses so that they could take us on a tour of the area.

I wasn't a big fan of horses, but a lot of my life in Asia was about getting out of my comfort zone, so I forced myself to let go of the fear and go with them. We saw many birds of prey and some ovoos, holy places consisting of piles of rocks and the sacrifices that people made there.

When we returned it was time for supper. Again, it was a simple meal of milk tea and a delicious soup. So much food made more delicious for the fact that we'd been in the fresh air all day. One of the older women also contributed her cheese and yoghurt which were wonderful.

Jessica and Lauren didn't even try to hide that they didn't like the food, but instead of trying to make them happy the village women ignored them. I loved that. In a more touristy area, our hosts would have felt obligated to try to please these stuck up bitches because they would be so worried that their establishment would get a bad reputation.

"Let's agree to avoid them whenever we can," I whispered to Alice.

"Absolutely. The Buzzkillingtons will not ruin this experience for me," she whispered loudly enough that Jessica heard her and glared. I snorted at Alice's Family Guy reference and also for the fact that I was so lucky to have found a friend like Alice.

"I'm so happy that you convinced me to come, Bella," Alice said, looping her arm with mine and squeezing it tight.

I'd been extremely surprised when Alice said that she'd like to go to Inner Mongolia with me. She was such an enigma. In many ways she was so "girly," which was totally opposite of me. However, in other ways Alice was tough as nails.

"You don't mind roughing it?" I said with a smirk.

"Oh please… You haven't been camping with my family. My parents are as granola as they come. Our holidays weren't spent at Disney world or places like that. We were hiking in the Himalayas."

"What about you? I wouldn't have pictured you as a backpacking type of girl," she said, nudging my shoulder.

I laughed because I really wasn't.

"I'm branching out," I said and we both laughed. "Anyway, I've been camping with Charlie, so I can make some kick ass smores. Do you think they have any gram crackers and marshmallows?" I said with a grin.

We looked over again as Lauren and Jessica tried to get one of our hostess' attention, but it was clear that they were being ignored.

"Why did you drag us here, Bella?" she huffed at me. "They don't even have any decent food."

I was mortified by what she'd said.

"Lauren, if you're so unhappy, I'm sure our guide can arrange for you to go back to Hohot. God knows the rest of us would have a better time without you around," I hissed, not wanting to cause a scene.

For a moment, she looked at me with shock before bolting up from the table with Jessica and storming out of the building.

I noticed that the room had gone quiet. Embarassed, I didn't look up, instead I dug back into my food and eventually, everything went back to normal.

_It serves them right for being stuck up bitches…_ I thought.

"Geez, Bella. I never thought you'd have the balls to be that blunt," Alice said, squeezing my knee.

Looking up at her, I grinned.

"I'm a patient, caring person, but I can't handle rude people," I said.

"High Five," Alice responded with a hand in the air.

Laughing, I clapped hands with her and we both got back to our meal.

After supper the women entertained us with their traditional music and dancing. Two of the elderly women pulled Alice and I to our feet and tried to teach us how to dance the steps, but my clumsy foot work just made us laugh.

It was at this point that we heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. Our guide told us that it was a new group of tourists arriving. Knowing that the new tour would want supper, we cleared out so that there would be enough room.

It looked like a small tour of what appeared to be two men and their guide, but I didn't stay to find out as Alice pulled me towards our yurt.

Our yurt was surprisingly warm and my bed which at first felt hard and uncomfortable still gave me one of the best sleeps of my life as the wind howled outside.

* * *

It was at breakfast the next morning that we discovered who the new people in our village were.

Alice and I were already settled, eating our mutton and drinking tea, when I heard a booming voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

"What do you say, Edward? Are you up for some Mongolian wrestling today?"

I heard a murmured reply and then a booming laugh.

Alice and I watched the door curiously waiting to see the face that came with that laugh.

When the two men stepped through the door I was shocked when the two faces were familiar.

They were the two men from the plane. I immediately felt myself blush when I saw Edward come in behind the big guy.

Again, I felt the instant gut reaction to him, my mind flashing back to the last time I'd seen him with his bright grin as he'd welcomed me to Beijing.

"Oh my god! It's him," I hissed at Alice.

"Who? Him who?" Alice said, tilting her head as she looked at the two men curiously.

"The guy from the airport," I whispered.

I'd told Alice about him. For a few weeks, I hadn't been able to get him out of my head. It wasn't like anything happened between us, but there had just been something about him that I couldn't let go of.

"Really? Oh my god! He's a hottie," she said a little too loudly, with a sly grin.

"Alice… be… quiet…" I growled, elbowing her in the side.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, jerking away from me and rattling our table.

The commotion at our table attracted the attention of Edward and his friend.

When Edward met my eyes, his widened. I was thrilled that he seemed to remember me too.

After hesitating for a moment, he leaned towards Emmett and after a hushed conversation, Emmett's eyes whipped towards me. With a big grin, he yanked Edward with him towards our table.

"Can we sit here?" Edward asked as Emmett practically shoved him towards us. And I swear that the sound of his voice shot through me like an electric current.

"Sure! The more the merrier!" Alice chirped. "The more the merrier, right Bella?"

I could feel myself turning red, so I just smiled without saying a word.

"My name's Edward and this is Emmett," he said, reaching across the table to take my hand.

"Bel… Bella… I'm Bella and this is my friend Alice," I said, still not being able to control my blush.

Letting go of my hand, Edward leaned towards Alice and shook her hand before sitting back in his seat and looking at me again.

Emmett and Alice began talking, but I barely heard them because Edward's eyes were on me.

"Were we on the same flight to Beijing?" he asked with a grin.

* * *

The next four days brought horse races and roping competitions, archery, wrestling, dancing, singing. Some of the activities were organized, others were not.

Alice and I watched in amusement as Emmett and then Edward tried to wrestle some of the villagers. Even though the guys were far bigger than the Mongolians it took very little time for them to get their asses kicked.

Edward and I didn't talk much beyond the _Where are you from? What are you doing in China?_ He and Emmett were students at Beijing University where they studied Chinese. They'd been living in Beijing for about two years now and were planning to finish their degree there. They both said that they were doing it so that they'd have a leg up in the import/export business that they wanted to set up in Seattle. I was surprised at how close they lived to us. The world was such a small place.

However, most of the time, the silences were filled by Emmett and Alice. Lauren and Jessica had also seemed to lighten up since Emmett and Edward arrived. Jessica and Edward seemed to get quite chummy, I thought jealously.

I just couldn't for the life of me figure out what to talk to him about. Even though he seemed open and friendly, there was something about Edward that made him hard to talk to. Even Alice noticed it. Even though he flirted and joked like Emmett, he always seemed guarded, not standoffish, but not willing to say anything personal.

I hated the way Jessica pawed at him. I couldn't believe that he didn't see right through her, but then again he was a man. Angrily, I decided that I was going to push him out of my head. He was obviously no better than Jake.

Once I forced myself to get over my obsession with Edward, I realized what I'd been missing. I started to lose myself in the sights and sounds around me. The countryside was a feast of the senses- the air was so clean, the sky so blue.

I took time that afternoon to sit by myself and admire the open grassland.

An elderly woman joined me and soon I was surrounded by others. She took my forearm and placed it up against hers, comparing our skin tones. The other women were curious too, and felt my arm and then my hair.

One of the young women spoke a little English and she told me that her grandmother said my skin was soft and white as milk. Then she pointed at some of the freckles on my arms, something she'd never seen before. I taught her a new word, "freckles," inciting the villagers to giggle and call out "freckles, freckles, freckles."

At that moment Edward walked by heading towards his yurt, but one of the elderly women took his arm and pulled him over to join me on the ground.

As with a lot of elderly people, I think they felt that age allowed them to do things that others could not.

Once he was seated next to me, the women quickly lost interest in me and turned their attention to Edward.

Several women fingered strands of his bronze hair, talking and giggling amongst themselves. The woman who'd first marveled at my freckles came around in front of him. With him sitting and her standing they were practically at eye level. Without any hesitation, she reached out and cupped his face in her hands. I saw Edward's eyes widen in alarm, which caused the woman to cackle.

"Just go with it, Edward…" I said with a laugh.

"I'm trying," he huffed which only made the women more interested in him.

The young girl said that they were amazed how his eyes looked like the grass of the steppes.

Edward's eyes had fascinated me on more than one occasion too, so I would imagine to these people who rarely saw eye colors other than their own he was especially fascinating.

Once they'd finished their examination of the two of us, they turned as one and left with a few pats on our shoulders.

"Well, that was interesting," he said, leaning back on his elbows.

"Hasn't that ever happened to you before? I get accosted all the time," I said curiously.

It was one of the hardest things to get used to in Asia. I felt like I was always on display. People wanted to have their picture taken with me or they wanted to sit next to me and watch in fascination my every movement.

"Well, never so up close and personal," he said with a laugh.

He laid back on the ground, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"God, it's beautiful here," he said.

"Yeah, it is…" I said with a sigh, lying back next to him.

"So… Strange coincidence us running into each other here…" he said.

"No kidding," I responded, forcing past my shyness. "How is it possible that not only did we run into each other again but here of all places. When I went to a travel agency in Beijing, I asked for a tour that was off the beaten track and they suggested here."

Edward chuckled and the sound went straight through me.

"That's funny because I said almost the exact same thing and they told me that they had just signed up a group of women for this tour. That must have been you," he said with a grin.

"So, what brought you here?" he began, but was interrupted by Emmett.

"Hey, Edward? Come on! I challenged the guys to another wrestling match. Best two out of three," he shouted.

"Come on, Edward. I would love to see what you can do!" Jessica called out flirtatiously from where she stood next to Emmett.

"You go ahead. I'd rather not get my ass kicked again today. It's hard on the pride," he said with a smirk before laying back down on the grass, covering his eyes with his forearm.

My heart sped up as I saw that his shirt had ridden up, showing a sliver of his stomach with a fine dusting of bronze hair.

"So, why did you choose Mongolia?" he said, starting up the conversation from where we'd been interrupted.

"I needed to smell fresh air again. I'm a small town girl, so some times the city life of Beijing has weighed me down, the noise, the pollution, the busy streets. I just needed to get away," I answered, leaning back on my forearms next to him.

When he didn't respond, I felt myself start to ramble.

"In a million years, I never expected to find myself here or even in Beijing. I never really expected to live anywhere besides Forks."

Moving his arm off his face, he squinted up at me.

"So, why are you here then?" he asked curiously.

It was then that I realized that I'd gotten into territory that I didn't want to talk about, especially not with this beautiful stranger.

"Ah, nothing big…" I said.

"Boy trouble?" he said with a smirk.

I flinched and looked away from that mocking smile.

"I guess you could say that…" I said, the humiliation of my split coming back to me.

"Shit, sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to sound so flippant."

"No worries," I said, but his teasing words had killed any spark of a conversation in me. He could never understand what it was like to be cheated on by someone. No one would ever do that to him.

We sat in silence for a while until it started to become awkward.

I was about to get up and walk away when Edward broke the silence.

"Both my parents died so I ran away to China. That's why I'm here," he said. "I bet if you ask most expats they all have something that they're running away from."

Taking my hand, he squeezed it before getting up and going to join Emmett and the rest in the wrestling match.

* * *

After driving for a few hours, I was pulled out of a light sleep by a chorus of gasps and "oh my god's!"

I turned my head and there it was, the Gobi. It just came out of nowhere, the edges of its tan sand prominent from the stark contrast of the green of the grass.

We pulled to a stop at the bottom of what I could only describe as a wall of sand. It was so steep that we had to climb to the top using a rope ladder.

Once I'd reached the top, I was struck dumb by the sheer massiveness of the Desert. It was unimaginable, even as I stood on a dune, seeing it for myself. It went on for miles and miles and I knew that I was only seeing a small fraction of the sand dunes, one after another, never-ending.

The dunes looked like monstrous waves, frozen in place beyond the swirling clouds of sand as the wind pushed it from one swell to the other.

I was soon joined by the others. I felt someone step up next to me and I knew that it was Edward without even looking.

I turned my head to look at him and I saw in his eyes the same awe that had taken hold of me when I saw the great expanse of desert in front of me.

His eyes were wide with wonder and I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face as he looked at me and then back at the desert with a look that said, "Are you seeing this? Is it real?"

I stepped closer to him and brushed him with my shoulder.

"Amazing isn't it?" I murmured and he smiled shakily.

"It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen," he said with wonder.

Once the feeling of awe had somewhat abated, we sprinted up the highest and closest dune and soon learned how exhausting running in sand could be. We were pushing our hardest but, with every step the sand fell away, making us feel like we were running in place.

Once we reached the top, we joined a group of other tourists who were flipping, rolling backhand and throwing themselves or being thrown down the dune.

I looked over at Alice who had a mischievous look in her eyes and a grin on her lips. I growled at her, "Don't you dare!" a moment before she pushed me. Edward reached out and grabbed my arm as I began to fall, but my momentum only served to pull him down with me.

We tumbled down the sand at an alarming rate and came to rest at the bottom covered head to toe in sand.

I laughed as I looked at Edward who was looking unimpressed. Leaning towards him, I boldly ruffled his hair trying to get the sand out.

With a grin, he started to do the same with mine.

Then, we looked up and saw Emmett tumbling end over end towards us and before we could get away, we were covered in sand again.

After playing for a while longer we decided to pay for a camel ride. Emmett was leery about it, but we all teased him until he gave in.

After negotiating a price, our guide saddled our camels and then beckoned for me to get on first. Sitting on a camel felt almost like sitting on a sofa albeit a lumpy one. It was more comfortable than a horse because I felt more secure once I was nestled between its humps. The only worry I had was how angry my camel seemed, it groaned and growled gnashing its huge teeth which I expected could inflict serious injury if they were ever able to grab a hold of me.

For a moment I panicked because I thought that the herder was going to let go of the rope and leave me alone with this seriously pissed off animal.

"I don't think this camel likes me!" I practically whimpered.

"Don't worry, Bella. It can't reach you. Its neck isn't long enough!" Emmett said with a laugh.

"That's not very comforting, Emmett," I snapped.

"Just go with it, Bella," Edward said with a smirk, echoing my words to him from the day before.

However, just as the words left his mouth, his camel nipped his arm, obviously pinching him something fierce.

"Jesus Christ!" he shouted, falling to the ground.

I chuckled at the poetic justice.

Now, if only Emmett's camel would do the same.

Once we'd ridden about 15 minutes, the camel herder told us in his broken English to dismount. Looking around confused we waited for him to tell us what was going on.

I had a moment of panic when the thought entered my mind that he could rob us and leave us here with no sense of direction, the small camp hidden from sight amongst the rolling hills of the dunes. But he was finally able to express to us that we should each spend some time alone soaking in the desert, pointing out different peaks for each of us.

It sounded like a really good idea. In all the amazement over where we were, none of us had really taken the time to soak it in.

Without a word, we spread out. I walked straight ahead down one dune and up another.

Sitting down, I just stared out at the vast emptiness. . It was like a piece of art, as if someone had come along and traced patterns in the sand.

It was impossible not to think about how people actually crossed this. How did people have the strength or persistence to make such a journey?

I closed my eyes for a moment listening for the sounds of the "singing sands," which was what these dunes were called. The sand emitted a sound as the grains rubbed against each other with each gust of wind. It sounded almost like the buzzing of a swarm of bees, haunting yet peaceful at the same time.

Stories abounded about this place, and travelers had long been warned that the singing of the dunes could distract and mislead them, causing them to become forever lost in the desert. I'd read a book about Marco Polo's trip along the silk road and I was amazed at how Marco Polo was able to capture this place's mysteries:

_When a man is riding by night through this desert and something happens to make him loiter, by dropping asleep or for some other reason, and afterwards he wants to rejoin them, then he hears spirits talking in such a way that they seem to be his companions. Sometimes, indeed, they will even hail him by name. These voices make him stray from the path, so that he never finds it again. _

This image of Marco Polo, sleeping in a tent in the desert and suddenly being awoken by these strange sounds that were completely mysterious and frightening to him, ignited my imagination.

I was pulled out of my thoughts at the sound of crunching sand behind me. Thinking it was Alice, I didn't even look up. However, when the person sat down next to me, I immediately knew that it was Edward.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I said with a sigh.

"It really, really is," he said softly.

We didn't talk, but there was energy between us that just made this moment all the more powerful.

"My parents would have loved this place," he said softly.

"I wish I could convince Charlie to come see me, but he's a small town man. He's never even been on an airplane, just like me before moving to China," I said.

I noticed immediately that Edward had tensed.

"My parents are dead… They'll never be able to experience any of these things with me," he practically hissed and then jumped up and walked away.

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't follow him.

It wasn't until the setting sun had infused the desert with glowing hues of orange and gold that our herder called for us to return.

Once we'd reached the desert edge, Emmett pulled us towards a group of tourists.

"Guys, you've got to see this. They actually have tobogganing down the side of the dune. We've got to try it. I love China - no concern for safety or injury which opens up so many more doors for doing fun things," Emmett laughed.

Looking down the 90m-45 degree dune, I couldn't believe that I was about to slide down it on a carpet.

Watching Alice fly down the dune screaming bloody murder, was almost enough for me to decide against it. Images of broken bones, concussions, stitches flew through my head, but I forced these thoughts out of my mind. Those were the thoughts that the old Bella would have. I was the new Bella and I wasn't afraid of anything.

I sat at the top looking at my friends below and scrunched my eyes shut for a moment gathering my courage. Finally, I shoved off and screamed like a banshee all the way down.

* * *

I was eager to sit down and eat, dizzy from hunger by this point, but we were told to wait for some of the villagers who'd been out with their herds.

At around 7:30, they arrived and we all sat down. Before we had even started eating the villagers broke out the baijio a kind of rice wine. I'd seen others in Beijing drink it, but up until then I'd been able to avoid it. Alice told me that it tasted like what she'd imagined rubbing alcohol would taste like. They poured baijio and we all shared a short toast to something that was said in Mongolian. I tried to pour it down my throat bypassing my taste buds, but the fiery burn nearly choked me.

"You okay, Bella?" Edward asked, rubbing my back. I expected to see a mocking smile on his face, but he actually did look concerned. Such a vast difference from his anger earlier.

"I'm fine," I rasped.

My attention was pulled to the other side of Edward at the sound of a mocking laugh.

"I always knew Bella couldn't hold her liquor," Jessica said putting her arm around Edward's shoulder.

I flushed in embarrassment and looked down.

"Not everyone is booze hound, like you Jessica."

My eyes shot up to Alice who was glaring at Jessica.

Edward laughed so hard that everyone turned to look at us.

Shrugging Jessica's arm off of him, he lifted his glass up and said, "I'll toast to that."

Jessica huffed next to him and turned her attention to Emmett.

Everyone at the table grabbed a piece of cold food. I, on the other hand, filled my plate and simply dug in, knowing that if the evening was going to go how I expected I would need food to buffer the alcohol.

The toasts kept coming and each time we were encouraged to down a small cup of baijio. I tried to sip mine, but its horrid taste made it unbearable, so I had to just gulp it down instead.

I felt flushed, but not drunk yet, so I was praying that I would make it through the evening without throwing up.

I looked over at Edward and was mesmerized for a moment by the way his skin was flushed and a fine sheen of sweat stood out on his forehead.

He looked at me and smiled before shouting out his own toast.

The evening only got crazier from there. The Mongolians who were clearly trying to outdrink the foreigners decided that the usual shot glasses were far too small. Instead, they insisted we drink from our tea cups. It was awful.

I felt something nudge my knee and I looked down to see Edward's water bottle that he always had with him leaning up against my leg. He carefully slid my tea cup off the table, dumping out the baijio and filled it with water.

With a wink, he gave it back to me and then did it for himself.

Doing this as much as we could, we fared better than the rest of them.

During the evening, Edward had edged closer to me. Seemingly accidently at first he would touch me. Passing me food, our knuckles would touch. When my hair stuck to my face from the heat and the alcohol, Edward would brush it away with a smile. I, in turn, would lean into his touch. Soon our touches were more confident as the alcohol flowed more and more. Eventually, Edward's arm was around me and I was leaning against him.

We swayed together as our heads began to spin.

I really don't know how many cups of baijio I had. Emmett had fallen out of his chair and was passed out snoring. Alice was lying face first on the table. Jessica and Lauren were curled up on the floor.

Needing to use the washroom, I pulled myself out of Edward's arms with a mumbled "bathroom…" and stood up, staggering outside. The minute the cold air hit my face I realized how drunk I really was.

I don't know how I made it to the outhouse and back, but thankfully I had the stamina to travel the distance. But just as I was about to reach the yurt, I thought better of it.

I stumbled a little bit away so that the glare of the gas lanterns inside couldn't be seen and then collapsed on my back under the stars.

I felt good, really good.

The sky was dense with stars. No city lights to block out the pin pricks of light. I missed the peacefulness of seeing this vast unknown above me. My favorite time as a child with Charlie was when he grabbed our sleeping bags and together we climbed up to the roof and listened to the wind through the trees and looked at the night sky which seemed to go on forever with layer upon layer of stars.

Lying there on the grass drunk on baijio, I felt at peace. I felt like I could really breathe for the first time since coming to Asia. Jacob and all the drama from home were far away and seemingly unimportant.

I jerked my head up, causing the world to spin, when I heard the sound of someone approaching.

I laid my head back down when Edward collapsed next to me close enough that our shoulders touched.

We stared up at the stars for a long time, not saying anything. It was nice to be peaceful with only the sounds of our breathing breaking the quiet of our surroundings.

Almost as one, we turned to each other.

He pushed his long fingers into my hair and turned my mouth up to his.

It was the best kiss of my life.

Pulling me closer to his body, he kissed me harder.

The taste of baijio was still on his tongue and the heat of his skin was scorching with the alcohol pumping through his blood.

I sighed and weaved my hand into his hair as I kissed him back, feeling the scratchiness of the Gobi sand in his hair and on his skin as a trailed my lips along the stubble of his chin, and jaw.

Pulling my face back to his, he moaned into our kiss before pulling his mouth away only to kiss down my throat. I could hear his panting breath in my ear and the sound thrilled me. I felt more desirable at that moment than I ever had in my life.

I knew that we were both drunk and not in complete control of our actions but we were both young and free and I couldn't have been happier.

I pushed Edward onto his back and kissed him with more fervor. I loved the taste of him and the feeling of his body under my own.

The rest of the world disappeared when he shuddered under me and groaned into my mouth as he pulled me harder against him.

I couldn't help myself. I wrapped my leg around his hip and pulled him over by his shirt so that he was lying completely on top of me. I nipped at his lips, dizzy with want and alcohol.

I twisted my hands in his messy hair as he began to run his hands restlessly over my body. His hands glided down from my face to my neck where he pulled the collar of my shirt down so that he could reach my collarbone with his lips and tongue. Then his hands continued their journey trailing along the sides of my breasts to my hips.

He moaned and settled himself more firmly between my legs. Pushing himself against me, we both shuddered at the delicious friction that was made between us.

We were both panting as the heat began to build between us causing us to sweat even though the air was cool and crisp.

"Oh God, Bella," he moaned.

"Don't stop," I murmured against his throat, surprising me at my boldness.

He pushed against me harder with a groan and I hissed as he hit me in just the right spot.

Suddenly, we both froze as we heard a person stumble out of the dining yurt and throw up noisily, killing the mood instantly.

Laughing breathlessly, we both rolled apart and onto our backs.

"I don't know what I'm doing" Edward murmured.

And that was all that I remembered.

* * *

I was surprised to wake just before sunrise still lying on the grass. We must have both passed out. Even though the air felt cold as I breathed in and out, I was cocooned in warmth. I tilted my head up and saw in surprise that Edward and I were curled together covered by a quilt. Sometime during the night someone had found us passed out and placed a quilt over us.

I smiled to myself because never in a million years would I have guessed a year ago that I would find myself here—Mongolia, passed out in the grasslands with a man that I barely knew.

I sat up gingerly waiting for the pain to kick in. As always, the headache wrapped itself around my head like a rubber band.

I groaned at the pain, causing Edward to stir.

"What the fuck?" he groaned. "Where am I?"

"Apparently, neither one of us made it home last night," I said, but then shut my mouth as my words reverberating through my head caused the rubber band to tighten.

"Yeah? God, I feel like shit," he said with a groan before sitting up too.

He looked a mess. His hair was insane, flat on one side and sticking up in all directions on the other. One side of his face had the crisscross pattern of having been pressed into the grass all night. His skin, as I'm sure mine was, was really pale all the flush from last night's alcohol gone.

But he was still the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

When I met his eyes, he was smirking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Your hair is fucked up," he said with a chuckle and then a wince.

I lifted my hand to my head and felt how my hair was knotted and frizzy.

"Yeah? Well, it takes one to know one," I said and then frowned as I realized that what I'd said didn't make sense.

He laughed weakly again and then groaned in pain.

He pulled himself to his feet and then helped me up, both of us staggering as gravity caused more pressure on our already overtaxed brains.

"I think it's time for me to haul out my trusty oatmeal and a couple of extra strength Advil," I rasped. "Do you want some?"

I learned during my first month in China that I could eat practically anything as long as I had something normal for breakfast. My staple breakfast at home was oatmeal, so one of the first things that I did when I went to Beijing was to go to one of the extremely overpriced foreign supermarkets and buy instant oatmeal.

I made sure that I always had some in my suitcase.

"Sure," he said hoarsely, pain etched across his face.

He took my hand and let me lead him to my yurt.

I opened the door and both of us climbed in. I looked towards Alice's bed and was alarmed for a moment to see that it was empty. But then my eyes turned to my bed and I saw her passed out on her stomach in the clothes that she'd worn the night before. I felt a wave of guilt because I should have never left her alone. We'd vowed that we'd never do that. It was dangerous for a woman to be alone. But then, I looked at the pile of quilts on the floor and saw Emmett's head peeking out. I sighed in relief. He had followed her to the yurt, but not to hook up. Even though I didn't know Emmett, I knew that he'd followed her in order to protect her.

Edward leaned into me and whispered into my ear so close that I could feel his lips against my skin.

"Grab your stuff and let's go to my tent," he said, squeezing my hand before letting go and stepping outside.

I rifled through my luggage as quietly as possible not wanting to disturb them and followed Edward out into the daylight.

* * *

Emmett and Alice exchanged numbers and promised that we'd meet up once we'd settled back into life in Beijing, but Edward was strangely silent. He would barely look at me and merely mumbled a goodbye as we got on the train. Feeling hurt by his attitude, I climbed onto the train and tried not to look back.

Once we were settled into our room and the train started moving, Alice gestured towards the window.

"There's Emmett and Ed-"and then stopped.

I stepped towards her, wondering why she stopped speaking.

It looked like Edward and Emmett were arguing. Emmett was in Edward's face, gesturing towards the train but Edward wasn't backing down.

As if sensing that Alice and I were watching, Edward's eyes flickered towards the train. When his eyes met mine, they looked angry and then walked away.

I felt myself bristle as well. I had no idea what he thought that I'd done, but it was his problem, not mine.

"Who's in for some Crazy 8 Count down?" I asked, grabbing the cards.


End file.
